Students injured when lightning strikes girls softball field

SEYMOUR, IN (WAVE) – Four teenagers were injured during a lightning strike at a southern Indiana high school Thursday afternoon.

The Seymour High School girls softball team was practicing around 4:25 p.m. when lightning struck the field, according to Stephanie Furlow, director of marketing at Schneck Medical Center in Seymour. Thursday

One girl was in critical condition, but was upgraded to good condition Friday morning. She was transferred to Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis after the incident. Three other girls were treated for minor injuries and released from Schneck Medical Center.

"We all started bawling because we were so scared," said one of the teammates who did not want to give her name.

In the seconds after the lightning strike, no one could make sense of what had just happened.

WAVE 3 Storm Cutter HD showed an ominous band of storms blowing through Thursday afternoon, but students said the storm front seemed to pop up out of nowhere.

"There was one cloud," one teammate said.  "It was nothing," said another.

Practice continued as normal, until around 4:00.

"I just saw a light shining, and it just hit here, and I didn't even believe what was going on.  I didn't even know she was hurt until she was laying flat on the ground," a teammate said.

Many heard and felt the powerful strike and came running to help.

"Track had just let out, so there was track people coming running over and is like everyone okay and the baseball coach was running over," the second teammate said.

Now the team that plays together is praying together and uniting behind their coach and school officials.

"He would get us off the field. Definitely. There's no doubt about it. So there's absolutely no one who should be like, 'Well, it's his fault for not getting them off the field.' Nothing like that at all," the student said.

Teammates said the more seriously injured student is a freshman at the school, and they and described her as a "social butterfly."

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